New Fahaka Owner

[FishFan]

Hi y'all! I'm new, so quick intro. I'm a cold-water enthusiast, and have kept goldfish for nearly 25 years and currently have 2 goldfish tanks (1 of Ryukins that hopefully a couple will grow to be show-quality and 1 of cute Pearlscales). My dh has many years of experience with breeding angels and discus and had a reef tank for over a decade, currently keeps Orandas, and we share a koi pond.

We're not new to fish in general, but we're newly bitten by the puffer bug. We got a GSP a couple of months ago, and he's the neatest fish! He's about 5" and we got him over a slight case of fin rot (we got him the day after he arrived at a LFS, so I assume he's wild-caught?) and treated for parasites, and now his tummy is white almost all of the time and he swims around instead of pacing the glass. He's gone from eating only live food to eating frozen and trying freeze-dried food.

Yesterday, we stopped at a LFS and saw our first Fahaka, and it was love at first sight. We purchased him and since we'll be gone for the Christmas holiday followed by 2 weeks at home and then a visit to my mom'n'em in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, we're boarding him until February. I've done a little research on the internet, and it seems most of what the LFS guy (owner's son) said was true; they're aggressive and get very large and need large tanks. But I still have a couple of questions. This Fahaka was purchased by the LFS from a customer who had it since it was very small and raised it with Cichlids, and it is now about 8"-10" in size. The Fahaka still gets along with his former tankmates, as we saw at the store. Is there a chance that it will continue to get along with Cichlids? We do not have any currently, but I have always fancied the electric blue Jack Dempseys. We were told that a 75 gal tank would be ok, and that's what we were planning to use as we're going to move the last of our koi babies into our heated pond after Mardi Gras. How long would a Fahaka of this size be ok in 75 gals? The 75 gal is set up with a Aquaclear 110 and a UG; would this be appropriate for a Fahaka? Lastly, I am a bit confused about proper substrate; some sources say they need sand all of their lives, some say only juveniles need sand; which is it? Thanks for any advice!

[Pufferpunk]

Gravel substrate is fine & easier to keep clean. An adult fahaka will rarely look to burrow in sand. A 75g might be OK for a short while but , I'd start looking for a 120g+ tank for him. My 12"er is in a 125g. I have bought many puffers that had tanks mates at the place they were living, only to dessimate most of their new ones the same night they were in their new tank here. On the other hand, I do happen to own a large fahaka that is letting his many tankmates live with only a minimum of nipping (for now...).

[manutius]

I think that with the natures of Fahakas being at best territorail and grouchy to at worst out and out defenders of their territory I wouldn't risk housing them with other fish. There is also the fact that unless you have a tank larger than 125G you will be placing extra load on the stabiltiy and health of the tank itself

[Hilly]

A 120g has a better footprint at 4x2x2 gives more turning room over the american standard 125g footprint. Look into a big canister for filtration like Fluval or Eheim, in the meantime whilst he's in your current tank big frequent water changes to keep the nitrates under control.

[Pufferpunk]

I have a large Eheim & the 2 largest Aquaclears on my fahaka tank but like I said, he also has lots of tank mates & I do 75% weekly WC on it.

[FishFan]

Thanks! Lots of new good stuff to take in. We had to go to the LFS today for filterfloss (oh darn ) and he was by himself. He was spunkier and followed us around, and we think he'd like to be an only fish (in his tank, anyway ). We realized we forgot a test kit and had to go back, and they'd put a pleco about twice his size in with him. The pleco was covered in bite marks, and we saw the Fahaka tag it good a couple of times. It was so unexpected that I forgot to ask why they put the poor pleco in there. This definitely confirmed our earlier "only fish" assessment.

[manutius]

That is so irresponsible of the LFS to put a plec in ther and thinking that their "armour" is good protection. These puffers crush through shells with very little effort, I hope you pointed this out the the staff there, ask them if they would like to have a housemate that stabbed them everytime they saw them

[FishFan]

That is so irresponsible of the LFS to put a plec in ther and thinking that their "armour" is good protection. These puffers crush through shells with very little effort, I hope you pointed this out the the staff there, ask them if they would like to have a housemate that stabbed them everytime they saw them

We did point it out to the staff, and all they did was throw some feeder goldfish into the tank the 40 gal bare tank. His belly was a little hollow looking, and we asked them to treat him for parasites, since he was obviously familiar with feeder goldfish. When we got back into town from Christmas holiday, we went to the lfs. His belly was still hollow, they looked at us blankly when we asked about parasite treatment, and the pleco was still in the tank, so we brought him home early. We dosed him in Parasite Clear in a 50 gal qt tank, and sure enough he passed a big white worm. He's a little shy, so we're pretty much leaving him alone. He loves ghost shrimp and will eat frozen krill, so hopefully we can get him on a more nutritious diet.